Chapter 32: Spellbooks and Spell Slots
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 32: Spellbooks and Spell Slots
Finally, the farce came to an end.
Ying Shiqian and the Shopkeeper reached an agreement, providing me with quite the show while I watched from the sidelines. So, after all that talk, they were basically going out to "kidnap" someone.
And their target was this year’s Full Score Academic God.
Once I understood that core motive, everything else suddenly became reasonable.
So, this bakery was actually just a front? In reality, they were selling muscle to the outside world?
The medium was the Red Velvet Cake, and the "content" was the special instructions in the order notes. Finally, a shop assistant would show up at the door to confirm the details or complete the request.
Thinking about it that way, my role as the front desk cashier really didn't have any high entry requirements. After all, this wasn't their primary source of income.
Who would have thought a simple bakery would offer this kind of service?
If that were the case, wouldn't every inconspicuous, niche little shop in the academy have the potential to be just like this place?
Wasn't that a bit too terrifying?
However, Tang Yihan’s explanation was that they were simply providing "differentiated services" to create their own unique brand.
According to Tang Yihan, the Shopkeeper’s philosophy was to make the Red Velvet Cake a symbol of the bakery—so that whenever people mentioned it, they would immediately think of the high-quality service provided by the shop.
With the Shopkeeper and Ying Shiqian gone, only Senior Sister Tang Yihan and I were left in the bakery.
Even though there weren't many customers, I still performed my duties as a shop assistant diligently. After all, the pay was indeed quite generous.
"Xiao Han, do you want to try becoming a baking apprentice? When I was interviewing you, I thought I noticed you had some interest in baking."
"Eh? Is that really okay?"
I was slightly surprised by the Senior Sister's sudden question.
I actually had intended to do exactly that; learning a craft was always a good idea. However, after officially becoming a staff member, I realized that all the pastries, cookies, and bread in the shop were made by Senior Sister Tang Yihan. There was simply nothing for me to do.
Furthermore, the Senior Sister hadn't shown any intention of taking me under her wing back then. Lacking experience, I naturally didn't dare to blindly jump in and try to help.
Now that the invitation was open, I certainly wasn't going to refuse.
"Of course. You can give it a try. If you don't have the talent for it, you can just give up."
"Yes! I definitely want to try."
"Perfect." Hearing my answer, a relaxed smile played on Tang Yihan’s lips. "Since you want to learn baking, we’ll start from the basics!"
"The basics? Is it memorizing the baking recipe book?" I followed Senior Sister Tang Yihan into the back kitchen with enthusiasm.
"No, no, no. We start by washing the dishes!" Tang Yihan turned around and pointed to a pile of equipment that had already accumulated on the side.
There were trays, shaping molds, and many other strangely shaped tools.
"Huh?"
"I’ll leave these to you. Oh, right, I almost forgot—you’re still a freshman and don't know how to use spells yet. You’ll have to wash them by hand for now. If you can't finish, you can leave them, but they must be clean. I don't want to be holding these things only to find them still greasy."
Senior Sister Tang Yihan pushed me toward the sink. For a moment, I couldn't even react. Whatever happened to the "easy work" I was promised?
How did I suddenly become manual labor?
"Sorry about this. Since Ying Shiqian ran off, the shop is short-handed. Just bear with it for a bit." Senior Sister Tang Yihan rarely showed such a pleading attitude, which made it quite hard for me to refuse.
"But, I don't have much experience..."
"I'll make the call—I'm giving you a raise!"
"Experience isn't something people are born with. I think it's good to try new things! I've actually done similar work to dishwashing before. Leave it to me!"
The moment I heard "raise," my expression flipped instantly. There was no manual labor that a raise couldn't solve! If it couldn't, it just meant the raise wasn't big enough!
Tang Yihan was stunned for a second by my sudden reversal, but seeing how motivated Xiao Han was, she felt relieved.
"Xiao Han is so sensible. You're much better than that girl Ying Shiqian. Making her wash these things is harder than asking for her life. And she even knows the Cleaning Spell, yet she's still unwilling to put in the effort."
"Mhm! Mhm!"
I nodded vigorously, putting even more muscle into my work.
"Keep it up, Xiao Han. If you perform well, I'll apply to the Shopkeeper to get you a Cleaning Spell spellbook."
"Mhm..." I nodded subconsciously, but then it clicked. "Wait, what spellbook?"
"Yeah, what about it? Don't you know what that is? Oh, I forgot, you're a freshman and school hasn't officially started yet. The teachers haven't explained this to you. A spellbook is basically a magic prop that allows you to use spells. You can just think of it that way."
"Really? But my Mental Power isn't strong enough to interfere with mana yet. Even if I have a spellbook, I won't be able to use it, right?"
Besides, there was still some time before the school opening week. I didn't know when the teachers would actually teach me how to use magic. Was this Senior Sister just dangling a carrot in front of me?
"Huh? You're worried about that? Using Mental Power to interfere with mana is incredibly difficult. That's not a level a freshman can touch. Normally, students at a Witch Academy probably can't manage to use Mental Power to call upon mana for the first three years. Don't overthink it."
"But spellbooks are different. By the way, have you checked your Personal Data?"
"Is that the personal info generated after binding the student card to the phone?" I could only think of that when she asked.
"Yes, that's the one. I didn't expect the Senior Sister who guided you to tell you about that already. I didn't find out until the teacher explained it to everyone in class. Anyway, among the data on your phone, there should be something called a 'Spell Slot'."
"Is there?"
How did I not know about this? I remembered there was no such thing. I pulled out my phone to check again. Indeed, it wasn't there.
"It's not there?"
Tang Yihan instinctively moved closer to help me look, but I pulled back slightly, not letting her see. I still remembered Sister Bai telling me not to let others see this casually.
"Uh... sorry. That's personal privacy; I really shouldn't have looked." Tang Yihan immediately realized her mistake and apologized. "If it's not there, it's probably because you haven't come into contact with a Spell Slot yet, so it hasn't been displayed."
"What exactly is a Spell Slot? Does it have something to do with spellbooks?" I asked immediately.
"Of course. Once you use a spellbook, the corresponding spell and its description will appear in your Spell Slot," Tang Yihan explained.
"That sounds so familiar," I couldn't help but comment, though my hands didn't stop scrubbing the dishes.
"It is quite strange. It's almost like those low-budget games outside. You get a skill book, click it, and bam, the skill appears in a skill slot."
"I heard those kinds of games appeared after spellbooks were invented. Legend has it that many game settings were actually modeled after the format of spellbooks."
Hearing Senior Sister Tang Yihan say that, I was floored. At first, I thought this whole thing felt like a game; who would have thought that games were the ones mimicking the transcendent?
That was a twist I never expected.
"So... as long as I have a spellbook, I can bypass the restriction of needing Mental Power to interfere with mana and just use spells directly?"
"That's pretty much it."
"Alright then."